[JURIST] The UN Security Council [official website] appears deadlocked on the Sudan issue after the United States and other countries argued again Thursday over the appropriate venue for criminal prosecutions of war crimes committed in Darfur. A majority of Council members support proceedings at the UN-associated International Criminal Court [official website] at The Hague, while the US - which has traditionally opposed the ICC and sought exemptions from its jurisdiction - favors the creation of a special tribunal that would operate out of Tanzania. On Wednesday, the African Union sought to intervene in the dispute and proposed an overarching African Panel for Criminal Justice and Reconciliation [JURIST report], a move which was sharply criticized by Amnesty International. The Security Council has approved a week-long extension of the United Nations Advance Mission in Sudan while delegations continue to work out the war crimes issue and outside pressure mounts for the UN to take meaningful direct action to address the Sudan crisis, which UN officials now say has claimed more than 150,000 lives. AFP has more.